Each of us must be cleansed from Tzaraat (Leprosy), פרשת תזריע, Parashat Tazria, Bits of Torah Truths

In this week’s Torah portion we read about the commands concerning Tzaraat a skin disease according to Vayikra / Leviticus 13:1-3, א וַיְדַבֵּר יְהֹוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל-אַהֲרֹן לֵאמֹר: ב אָדָם כִּי-יִהְיֶה בְעוֹר-בְּשָֹרוֹ שְֹאֵת אוֹ-סַפַּחַת אוֹ בַהֶרֶת וְהָיָה בְעוֹר-בְּשָֹרוֹ לְנֶגַע צָרָעַת וְהוּבָא אֶל-אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן אוֹ אֶל-אַחַד מִבָּנָיו הַכֹּהֲנִים: ג וְרָאָה הַכֹּהֵן אֶת-הַנֶּגַע בְּעוֹר-הַבָּשָֹר וְשֵֹעָר בַּנֶּגַע הָפַךְ | לָבָן וּמַרְאֵה הַנֶּגַע עָמֹק מֵעוֹר בְּשָֹרוֹ נֶגַע צָרַעַת הוּא וְרָאָהוּ הַכֹּהֵן וְטִמֵּא אֹתוֹ: 13:1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 13:2 ‘When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of leprosy on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. 13:3 ‘The priest shall look at the mark on the skin of the body, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the infection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is an infection of leprosy; when the priest has looked at him, he shall pronounce him unclean. (NASB) Based upon the reading of this text, there are two signs of proof required for one having Tzaraat (leprosy). According to Vayikra / Leviticus 13:3 (i) the infection has turned white and (ii) it appears deeper than the skin of his body. This parallels the Torah requirement for judgement based upon two or three witnesses. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 19:15) The Talmud has the following things to say concerning these verses.

Talmud Bavli Bava Metzia 86aWith that guarantee, they brought Rabba bar Naḥmani before the messenger. They took him into a small vestibule [le’idrona] and closed the door before him. Rabba bar Naḥmani prayed for mercy, and the wall crumbled. He fled and went to hide in a swamp. He was sitting on the stump of a palm tree and studying Torah alone. At that moment, the Sages in the heavenly academy were disagreeing with regard to a halakha of leprosy. In general, a leprous spot includes two signs of impurity, a bright white spot and a white hair. The basic halakha is that if the snow-white leprous sore [baheret] preceded the white hair then the afflicted person is ritually impure, but if the white hair preceded the baheret, he is pure.

Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 34bThe baraita continues: If these two matters are juxtaposed, why not say that just as disputes are judged specifically by three judges, so too leprous sores are viewed by three priests? And this would be supported by a logical inference: If a case involving one’s money is judged by three judges, is it not clear all the more so that the person himself should be viewed by three priests? To counter this, the verse states: “And he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests” (Leviticus 13:2). From this you have learned that even one priest views leprous sores. In any event, as opposed to the mishna, Rabbi Meir holds that disputes are judged only during the day.

The rabbis speak of two signs of impurity the bright white spot and the white hair. This establishing whether a man had the infection and the conclusion is that if matters regarding money are judged by two or three, so too must the leprous sores be judged by two or three, and this follows with the idea that there are a minimum of two signs that determine the individual as having an infection of Tzaraat. It is interesting when one came to the Messiah, it was not a matter of the question of whether one had Tzaraat or not, the uncleanness of the person was already established and what the people were looking for was a miracle of God to be healed. Midrash Rabbah describes a greater level of uncleanness that goes beyond what is only at the surface (in the skin).

Midrash Rabbah Devarim / Deuteronomy Parashat 6, Part 8Remember that which the Lord, your God, did to Miriam: Halacha: A person who has a blemish and a priest was his relative, what is [the law as to whether it is] permitted for him to see (inspect) it? So did the sages learn: All [tzaraat] blemishes can a man see except for his own blemishes. Rabbi Meir said, “Also not the blemishes of his relatives.” And through what do blemishes come? Through an evil (stingy) eye. Rabbi Yitschak said, “It is customary in the world that a man should say to his fellow, ‘Lend me your pickaxe, that I should chop this wood.’ And he says [back] to him, ‘I don’t have [one],’ due to an evil eye. So does [the first one] say, ‘By your life, [so] lend me your sieve’; and he has one. And he says, ‘I don’t have [one],’ due to an evil eye. Immediately a blemish comes to his house first. From where [do we know this]? As it states (Leviticus 14:37), ‘And he will see the blemish, and behold the blemish is in the walls.’ And what would they do to him? They would clear out everything that he had inside his house. From where [do we know this]? As it states (Leviticus 14:36), ‘And the priest will command and they will clear out his house.’ When he would remove all of what he had inside his house – his pickaxes and his sieves – they would say, ‘Did you see the evil eye, since he had in his hand that which was in his house [and] he didn’t want to lend [it]. What caused him to clear [it] out? Through his having an evil eye.’” Another [understanding]: Rabbi Chaninah said, “Blemishes only come through evil speech. And our rabbis say, ‘You should know that blemishes come from evil speech; behold, Miriam the righteous – through her speaking evil speech about Moshe, her brother, did blemishes approach her. From where [do we know this]? As it states (Leviticus 14:37), “Remember that which the Lord, your God, did to Miriam.”’”

The midrash speaks of “the sages learned: All [tzaraat] blemishes can a man see except for his own blemishes.” The idea is that one is in denial seeing a sore at the surface that everyone else can see. This act of denial goes deeper when we consider the source of our sins as the midrash further draws out. It is interesting how the midrash speaks of seeing the blemish of others calling this being “through an evil (stingy) eye.” This then is connected to blemishes coming through evil speech (Lashon Hara) and leads to other forms of evil, i.e. not lending to a neighbor if they are in need, etc. It is interesting how the witness of two or three is circumvented by the one who is judged of his own (i.e. seeing everyone else’s blemishes). There is a parallel to Yeshua’s words on the evil eye and not seeing our own sins. (Matthew 7:3-5) Here in Yeshua’s teaching he speaks of having an eye that is filled with darkness as opposed to being filled with light (righteousness). This leads back to the concept of evil speech, that which comes from within. Just as Miriam was stricken with Tzaraat due to her slander of her brother Moshe. The Midrash speaks of three things, (i) you can see everyones tzaraat besides yours, (ii) the blemishes come from an evil stingy eye a reference to a deeper spiritual problem, and (iii) just like miriam, blemishes come from evil speech. The idea of an evil eye is when one casts a malevolent glare upon another person despising them or having an intention of evil in one’s heart. Many cultures believe that when one receives an evil eye from another person (the glaring look) it will cause misfortune or injury. Because of this, cultures have made talismans to protect against the evil eye. This is a wide belief among many Mediterranean and Asian cultures. Attempts to ward off the curse of the evil eye have resulted in a number of talismans in many cultures, for example, the Hamsa is a charm made to ward off the evil eye in Israel. In the rabbinic literature, the evil eye is mentioned several times in the Mishnah Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Fathers) and as we see here in the Midrashim. In the Mishnah Pirkei Avot Chapter 2, five disciples of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai give advice on how to follow the good path in life and avoid the bad. Rabbi Eliezer says an evil eye is worse than a bad friend, a bad neighbor, or an evil heart. Judaism teaches that a “good eye” designates an attitude of good will and kindness towards others. Someone who has this attitude in life will rejoice when his fellow man prospers; and he will wish everyone well. An “evil eye” denotes the opposite attitude. A man with “an evil eye” will not only feel no joy but experience actual distress when others prosper, and will rejoice when others suffer. A person of this character represents a great danger to our moral purity in our culture. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook explained that the evil eye is “an example of how one soul may affect another through unseen connections between them. We are all influenced by our environment… The evil eye is the venomous impact from malignant feelings of jealousy and envy of those around us.” (Morrison, Chanan; Kook, Abraham Isaac Kook (2006). Gold from the Land of Israel: A New Light on the Weekly Torah Portion – From the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook’. Urim Publications. p. 88.) It has been suggested the 10th commandment, “do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor” is a law against bestowing the evil eye on another person. The important point that we are learning here from all of these things are to teach us of something about what is on the inside comes to the outside. A parallel may be found in the idea of faith and faithfulness, what is on the inside will come to the outside. If we hold wicked thoughts on the inside, the result will be in our actions on the outside. This leads to impurity, as in the disease of Tzaraat, these things make us impure before God, and it is only by a miracle of God that we can be made whole, purified, and sanctified. This is the reason our Father sent Yeshua His Son to not only lead us in the way of righteousness, but to heal us and make us new from the inside out.

The Scriptures we are looking at for this week are from Vayikra / Leviticus 13:1-18.

Vayikra / Leviticus 13:1-1813:1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 13:2 ‘When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or a scab or a bright spot, and it becomes an infection of leprosy on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. 13:3 ‘The priest shall look at the mark on the skin of the body, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the infection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is an infection of leprosy; when the priest has looked at him, he shall pronounce him unclean. 13:4 ‘But if the bright spot is white on the skin of his body, and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and the hair on it has not turned white, then the priest shall isolate him who has the infection for seven days. 13:5 ‘The priest shall look at him on the seventh day, and if in his eyes the infection has not changed and the infection has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall isolate him for seven more days. 13:6 ‘The priest shall look at him again on the seventh day, and if the infection has faded and the mark has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only a scab. And he shall wash his clothes and be clean. 13:7 ‘But if the scab spreads farther on the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall appear again to the priest. 13:8 ‘The priest shall look, and if the scab has spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is leprosy. 13:9 ‘When the infection of leprosy is on a man, then he shall be brought to the priest. 13:10 ‘The priest shall then look, and if there is a white swelling in the skin, and it has turned the hair white, and there is quick raw flesh in the swelling, 13:11 it is a chronic leprosy on the skin of his body, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean; he shall not isolate him, for he is unclean. 13:12 ‘If the leprosy breaks out farther on the skin, and the leprosy covers all the skin of him who has the infection from his head even to his feet, as far as the priest can see, 13:13 then the priest shall look, and behold, if the leprosy has covered all his body, he shall pronounce clean him who has the infection; it has all turned white and he is clean. 13:14 ‘But whenever raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean. 13:15 ‘The priest shall look at the raw flesh, and he shall pronounce him unclean; the raw flesh is unclean, it is leprosy. 13:16 ‘Or if the raw flesh turns again and is changed to white, then he shall come to the priest, 13:17 and the priest shall look at him, and behold, if the infection has turned to white, then the priest shall pronounce clean him who has the infection; he is clean.(NASB)

Looking for parallels in the Apostolic writings, we read in Luke 17 Yeshua speaks of stumbling blocks and of faith to be increased (17:5). Yeshua then speaks of being a worthy slave, and the idea is only doing what is expected of God as opposed to going above and beyond the call of duty and service to the Lord. Then we are told about Yeshua meeting 10 lepers in Luke 17:11-19:

Luke 17:11-1917:11 While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. 17:12 As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; 17:13 and they raised their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ 17:14 When He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they were going, they were cleansed. 17:15 Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, 17:16 and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine where are they? 17:18 ‘Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?’ 17:19 And He said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.’ (NASB)

What is interesting is Yeshua tells them to go and show themselves to the priests prior to their healing. They stepped out in faith to do as he said and then their healing came. Only one man returned glorifying God and he was a Samaritan. It may have been this man not being Jewish saw the greater mercy and miracle of God because he might have thought these things were out of reach not being a part of the people of Israel. Following this the narrative goes immediately into the Pharisees questioning him on when the kingdom of God is coming. Yeshua then says the following:

Luke 17:20-18:117:20 Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; 17:21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is! or, ‘There it is! For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.’ 17:22 And He said to the disciples, ‘The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 17:23 ‘They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. 17:24 ‘For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. 17:25 ‘But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 17:26 ‘And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 17:27 they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 17:28 ‘It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; 17:29 but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 17:30 ‘It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 17:31 ‘On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. 17:32 ‘Remember Lot’s wife. 17:33 ‘Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 17:34 ‘I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. 17:35 ‘There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. 17:36 [‘Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.’] 17:37 And answering they said to Him, ‘Where, Lord?’ And He said to them, ‘Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.’ 18:1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, (NASB)

Notice how Yeshua speaks of the kingdom, of knowing him, and of the immediacy of destruction on the day of the Lord which is compared to stories of Noah and Lot. Lot’s wife is the quintessential example because she looked back upon her life of sin and she perished immediately. In the midst of Yeshua talking about our serving the Lord, and questioning on the kingdom of God we find Yeshua cleansing ten lepers. According to Luke’s account, on his way to Jerusalem, Yeshua met ten lepers, he healed them, but only one returned praising God and thanking Yeshua afterwards. This miracle emphasizes the importance of faith that is coupled to serving the Lord and the realization of the kingdom of God that is in our midst. These things are emphasized in the disease of Tzaraat, an intrinsic uncleanness which directs us to understand that the kind of healing that is needed here, related to the source of that uncleanness (the wicked heart), only comes by a miracle of God!

When the leper shows himself to the priest to be examined to see if his affliction is gone, the priest shuts him up for seven days then to be reexamined according to Vayikra / Leviticus 13:6

Vayikra / Leviticus 13:6וְרָאָה֩ הַכֹּהֵ֨ן אֹת֜וֹ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי֮ שֵׁנִית֒ וְהִנֵּה֙ כֵּהָ֣ה הַנֶּ֔גַע וְלֹא־פָשָׂ֥ה הַנֶּ֖גַע בָּע֑וֹר וְטִהֲר֤וֹ הַכֹּהֵן֙ מִסְפַּ֣חַת הִ֔יא וְכִבֶּ֥ס בְּגָדָ֖יו וְטָהֵֽר׃ 13:6 On the seventh day the priest shall examine him again: if the affection has faded and has not spread on the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean. It is a rash; he shall wash his clothes, and he shall be clean. (NASB)

Rashi comments concerning the tzaraat becoming dimmer. This may lead us to understand how we should be looking at our lives, the Lord God working in our lives, and our sins becoming dimmer and not more extreme. Our relationship with God and His Messiah should lead us to righteousness and not wickedness. In the terminology of Tzaraat, our sins should become dimmer, lesser, smaller, and nonexistent, as we walk in God’s ways according to the Spirit. Rashi on Vayikra / Leviticus 13:6 Part 1 states “כֵּהֶה means it has become paler than its former color — consequently if it remains in its color or if it has spread he is unclean.” The accepted ruling (halachah) however, is that if it did not spread out, the afflicted person is declared ritually clean. This is spelled out in the Mishnah in tractate Nega’im chapter 1, Mishnah 3. When considering the spiritual application to these things, looking at our lives, the uncleanness of sin, and the Lord God working in our lives, we need to see that sin is diminishing more and more as we grow in our relationship with God as opposed to just remaining static (unchanged). Your sins, are they static meaning that nothing changes? When we have an encounter with the power of God our entire lives change. The Lord God our Father in heaven wants us to learn from our mistakes and not to continue to repeat the same sins over and over again. The history of the people of Israel in the wilderness is an example of this, “in spite of” all that God did for them, “they kept on sinning” (Tehillim / Psalm 78:32).

Tehillim / Psalms 7878:31 The anger of God rose against them And killed some of their stoutest ones, And subdued the choice men of Israel. 78:32 In spite of all this they still sinned And did not believe in His wonderful works. 78:33 So He brought their days to an end in futility And their years in sudden terror. 78:34 When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and searched diligently for God; 78:35 And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. 78:36 But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue. 78:37 For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant. (NASB)

The Lord God, in his love for us, respects our freedom. Although he has the power to overrule our freedom, he does not. We have to be careful not to fall into this trap that “in spite of His wonders they did not believe” (Tehillim / Psalms 78:32) and it was not just about not believing, but also they did not remain faithful to God or His Word. Over and over again the Lord was full of compassion and mercy, forgiving their iniquities and He did not destroy them. (Tehillim / Psalms 78:38). When we consider our encounter with God and His power, it is not simply an encounter between the supernatural power of God and the supernatural power of evil. We are also given freedom of choice, which is a fundamental part of the equation that describes our faithfulness, loving God, and serving Him. This is the meaning of the apostle James words when he writes, “Each of you is tempted when, by your own evil desire, you are dragged away and enticed.” (James 1:14) Just as David wrote in his psalm, we too can say “Lord, thank you for your mercy and forgiveness and for the power of the Holy Spirit living in me. Help me always to be loyal to you.” (Tehillim / Psalm 78:37) When we consider the disease of Tzaraat, we are at the mercy of God. Most everyone is not worried about the disease of Tzaraat today, however, looking at the deeper spiritual meaning behind Tzaraat, each one of us needs a miracle of God to be made who, to be cleansed, to be healed, and to walk away from the evils that are in our hearts. Just as the rabbis consider the sin of such an afflicted person has come out and is manifest in the skin, the healing of God comes both to the body to be made pure, but also the forgiveness of sins through God’s Son for the purification of the soul before God. These are very important concepts related to why we must believe in Yeshua to be saved. All of these things appear to be what the chapters on Tzaraat are teaching us, a consistent theme with the Apostolic Writings!

Duane D. Miller received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering from The University of Akron Ohio. He is currently a Chemical Engineering Researcher.
Duane’s research expertise has focused upon functional materials development for the control, conversion, and release of process gases in Energy production technologies. His R&D interests include computational chemistry, developing novel technologies for converting biomass to fuels and studying their fundamental interactions during the chemical conversion process. His past experience includes sorbent development for pre- and post-combustion CO2 and SO2 capture, selective absorption of H2S from methane streams, O2 capture for oxy-fuel combustion, photocatalytic reduction of alcohols, NOx reduction catalysis, the development of oxygen carriers to combust fossil fuels (CH4 and coal) for the chemical looping combustion processes, and the extraction of rare earth elements using patent pending sorbents. His research expertise has focused on operando-characterization using Infrared, Raman, and UV-Vis spectroscopy to observe the nature of the catalytic active sites and reaction intermediates under realistic reaction conditions, allowing direct correlation of molecular/electronic structures with catalyst performance during Gas-Solid / Liquid-Solid Adsorption and Photocatalytic Processes with real time online analysis of reaction products using ICP-MS and mass spectrometry. His current work involves a multi-disciplinary approach to developing, understanding, and improving the catalytic gasification of coal and methane, high temperature chemical looping combustion, and the catalytic decomposition and gasification of biomass and coal using novel microwave reactor.​
He has been studying the Hebrew Scriptures and the Torah for 20+ years and sharing what he has learned. The studies developed for MATSATI.COM are freely to be used by everyone, to God be the Glory!